Happy New Year! I hope everyone had an enjoyable and memorable New Year Holiday. This is always an interesting time of the year as many people make new goals, rekindle old hopes, and start the year with an increased desire to succeed. Sometimes we endure and realize these goals, other times we fall just short, and many times the fire we feel on the 1st of January is extinguished before the end of the month!
Last year among several of my hopes was a goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I started running longer distances five years ago. Qualifying for Boston became an elusive goal of mine four years ago! I have set that goal each January. I have to run a marathon (26.2 miles) in 3 hours and 20 minutes or less to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Finally, in 2009 I really meant it! I stuck to my plan. I awoke at 5 A.M. every day to run. Snow did not stop me. Rain, mud, and wind, did not stop me. I did speed work, I ran long distances, I endured ridicule and the constant “why are you doing this?!” question. I ate right and refused ice cream, cake, and many of my other favorite foods. I invested in pair after pair of running shoes and the latest gadgets to record my times and measure my distances and speed.
Finally the day came to attempt my qualifying run at the St. George Marathon. I had carefully mapped out each mile of the race. I knew the elevation gain or loss of each mile. I planned out when to consume my energy packets of life sustaining Gu. I knew exactly how fast I needed to run each mile.
The starting gun fired at 7 A.M. and I was off. I felt great! Miles after mile I stayed almost exactly on pace. At the half way mark I was within five seconds of my carefully planned strategy. I asked my oldest son to meet me at the 16 mile marker and run with me for a couple of miles to keep me motivated and push me to keep going. At mile 20 my second son met me to take me the rest of the way and make sure during the hardest part of the race I did not falter. Everything was going exactly according to plan! At mile 23 I declared to my son “I’ve done it! I am going to qualify!” Then life hit me. Without warning my left calf muscle completely seized up on me. The pain was excruciating. Every step left me wincing in pain and my pace began to slow considerably. I repeated over and over again the mantra “I am whole, I am whole,” trying to do everything I could to ignore the pain and keep my pace.
I looked at my watch to see whether I had enough of a buffer to account for the slower pace. I calculated that it was not. My goal, my dream, was slipping away from my grasp with each passing second. My son was yelling at me and encouraging me to push on and pick up the pace. I did my very best to obey.
The last mile of the race was the longest mile I have ever run. It was the most physically and mentally challenging moment of my life. When I finally crossed the finish line I was totally and completely exhausted in every way. Two members of the National Guard who were manning the finish line caught me and helped me through the chute to the finish corral where I was able to sit and analyze my results. As it turned out, I was 59 seconds too slow for the needed qualifying time. That is 2.2 seconds per mile!
I came up short again. But I will tell you this–today is the first of January and I just bought a book called Run Less, Run Faster. And, I have an expert running friend who is going to provide me a little bit of expert advice. This is the year! I am finally going to do it! I look forward to seeing you at the finish line of 2010—Go get YOUR dreams!
